§ MR. BARRIE (Londonderry, N.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that certain Excise officers acting as pension officers, on request from the editor of the Civilian, furnished him with the total number of claimants in their districts, and have been fined £10 each for so doing; and whether, seeing that the total number of claimants is known to all members of local committees, has in many cases been published in local newspapers, and is generally public property, he will reconsider his action in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) I must refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave on the 3rd instant to the hon. Member for Blackburn.
§ MR. SNOWDENTo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the regulation under which the Board of Inland Revenue have fined certain pension officers £10 each for communicating to a service paper the number of claims received by them is a regulation common to the whole Civil Service; if so, does he propose to take any action to punish officials in other Departments for communicating similar information to the Press; whether he will issue a Treasury regulation rendering clerks to pension committees liable to a fine of £10 for giving information to the Press; and, if not, why is different treatment to be accorded to officials engaged in the same work.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) As regards unauthorised communications made to the public Press by Civil servants, I beg to refer the hon. Member to Treasury Minutes of 3rd June, 1873; 6th February, 1875; and 13th March, 1884, published in Command Paper 3951, of 1884. The clerks to pension committees are under the control of the committees, and not of the Treasury. I should add that the paper to which the hon. Member refers is a registered newspaper owned, controlled, and carried on privately, and has no official status.